Sylva town board members are moving ahead with plans to preserve the Fisher Creek watershed.

The watershed, located on the northern outskirts of town, is home to Pinnacle Park, a 1,100-acre tract of land with a peak elevation of 5,800 feet. The park lands present “a variety of conditions” in terms of natural resources and topography, meaning that board members would most likely not want to adopt a uniform preservation plan for the entire parcel, said Peter Bates, a Western Carolina University Geosciences and Natural Resource Management associate professor.

Bates, who along with his students conducted an assessment of Pinnacle Park, explained that while board members may have an interest in retaining forestry rights over the land — action that would allow for the sale of timber — significant portions of the park “really do not lend themselves to sustainable forestry” due to the steepness. Consequently, Bates said the board was faced with a “quandary” about what to do and how.

Board member Maurice Moody cautioned that although he felt confident saying that board members had no interest in seeing Pinnacle Park ever turned into a residential development, the town needed to get more out of preservation than just something pretty to look at. Town interests, such as the ability to preserve the rights to use the water, must be part of any preservation plan, Moody said.

Maintaining water rights is a generally accepted practice when conserving watersheds, said Paul Carlson, executive director of the Land Trust for the Little Tennessee, who has worked closely with watershed projects in Bryson City and Franklin.

But Carlson encouraged board members that if they had any interest in preserving Pinnacle Park, the time to act is now. The state legislature just passed the largest allocation to the Clean Water Management Trust Fund to date. The agency is responsible for issuing grants to preserve lands such as Pinnacle Park.

“There’s a window of opportunity now that may not exist in one to two years,” Carlson said.

Applying for a Clean Water grant does not hem the Sylva town board into agreeing to any sort of preservation agreement at this time. The application process is months long and even if a grant is awarded, the town does not have to accept it — a subject Moody broached, wishing not to bind any future town boards to the sitting town board’s actions. Town elections will be held in November.

Mayor Brenda Oliver asked the board to move forward with the grant application with the intent of retaining water and forestry rights. The motion was approved unanimously. Board member Eldridge Painter was absent from the meeting.

Pinnacle Park is set for appraisal within the month, a move that will help board members determine the value of the land and of water and forestry rights.